Me, Myself, and I
by Kazumi Kuwabara
Summary: She doesn’t have a past life. There is no eighth millennium item. No fourth God card either. She’s not even that big of a fan, but that didn’t stop a certain thieving spirit from making Jack's life a living hell. Post series.
1. Priceless

Kazumi: All right, first chapter. With two more coming immediately after this one. Please don't hate me for not putting up my other ones yet, I am somehow having a hard time getting back into them; so don't give up hope just yet. Onto the DISCLAIMER! - Like, dude, I sooo don't, like, own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ Whaat? Ya'll think I'm, like, stupid or something? Nooooo way man, not in a billion years!

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Priceless

It's dark. Extremely dark. _Dark _dark.

The kind of dark where you could think, for a fleeting moment, that you could possibly be stuck in some earth-bound black-hole – completely and utterly endless. The kind of dark where you will stare straight out at your hands, know for certain that they're there millimeters out in front of your damn nose because you're holding them there yourself, and not even see an outline, but just to make sure you're not dreaming about knowing that a hand might be there, you go ahead and smack yourself in the face with it. The kind of dark where you would sit there for at least a good five minutes and then say to yourself, "Holy shit, it's fucking dark in here!" like a complete dumb-ass, as if you had just noticed it.

Welcome to my world.

My name is Jack Kavanagh. I am eighteen years old, female if the name fooled you, American, a departed high school senior, the eldest child of an Archeologist… and I have just been buried alive. I am now alone, fifty feet below the sandy surface in the middle of God only knows where Egypt, and badly injured.

Yeah, I know, sounds like a really bad joke, right? Like one of those things that you would only see on the news after some horrible natural disaster; a mining accident for example. Well, something along those lines. Excavating ancient tombs that haven't been touched in over a couple of millennia could be called "mining" if put into the right context.

We're "mining" for dead people, how's that? Oh, and we can't forget the nice, shiny things buried with them now can we? Of course not. Talk about invasion of one's personal privacy, not like they're going to need them anytime soon. It's just the principal of the thing, you know. I wouldn't want any strange people coming into my room when I'm sleeping and rummage through my things… preferably not my underwear drawer.

Odd comparison, but I think it fits.

Personally, I'd like to dedicate this likely fatal experience to a Pharaoh's Curse. … What? I believe in that kind of stuff, so sue me. It's not like you're going to do yourself any good by getting into legal matters with a girl in a hopeless situation. So there.

Now I bet you're wondering how I got myself into this _fantastic_ mess. I can tell you that I got distracted. I can tell you that there was an earthquake. I can tell you that the people working on this particular project, my father and myself NOT included, probably deserved to have the dig-site recovered for what they were doing with it; I mean, for Christ's sake, can't you leave the ancient civilization leaders alone in their coffins?

Anyway, I think that it would be better if I went back to the beginning and thoroughly retold the tale word-for-word up until this point so you could understand the situation fully.

It all started five days ago, a little while after the Fourth of July. I get a call from my dad telling me that he's going to make a quick pit-stop in the U.S. from his current site in Thera before heading back out to one of the one's in Egypt. Apparently he received a call from a buddy at that certain site that they were uncovering some pretty interesting stuff and wanted him in on the fun.

So why call me? He wanted me to come of course. My dad doesn't get to see the family or I very often from all of the traveling. So he hopes that before I head off to college, he and I get to spend some real father/daughter time together.

I've been on some of his sites before, when I was still just a kid and only twice; once when I was six, and another one when I was eleven. First time I got to go to Machu Pichu. Very cool… but WAY too high for me at that age. Never again I tell you, being that high up on a rocky mountain platform is a once-only thing for sure. The second time was to Pompeii and my first time to an island in Europe. It was nice, but a little creepy knowing that the people that once lived here burned to death and suffocated under the ash that rained from the sky.

Anyway… being the nice, dependable daughter I was raised to be, that and the fact that I had my whole summer ahead of me and had _nothing_ to do except be a couch potato and gain weight on fruit roll-ups and cheddar and sour-cream chips, I complied with the request of to the two week stay at the desert excavation.

Much fun. I get to deal with _at least_ a hundred degree heat during the day, and freezing temperatures at night, scorpions, and sand getting into my eyes every other God awful second. Can anyone say skin cancer? Well, at least I'll have a natural tan, not like _some _people who stick themselves into a human toaster oven.

I'm really trying not to be pessimistic, but after watching the Discovery channel for _years_, you tend to notice those types of things more often.

So, after getting ready for my big trip on the last day before I had to leave, being the procrastinator I am, I also got little to no sleep that very same night. Pretty smart huh? Not really, it's just a reaction to stress. The next morning I met up with my father at the airport, seven a.m. sharp for the ride in the private plane borrowed from his contact in Egypt, along with some back-up…

---_Four Days Ago_---

"We're gonna miss you kiddo!" cried a girlish voice as I was sandwiched in-between four older women, at least a year or two older than I was. They were the friends that I had known since I started middle school who had come to see me off; not all that unusual. The one who cried out was a blonde with long, wavy hair in a low ponytail and gray-blue eyes.

Okay, it's starting to hurt now… "Sarah, that's my ear. … and those would be my ribs that are about to snap like small, feeble twigs." AIR! Blessed air! Oh thank you lord. "That would not have been fun; for me or for Jesse, you know? If I stopped breathing she would've had to perform CPR on me in front of the _whooole_ airport."

"No thank you." Another of my buds muttered with a small smile, a tall strawberry blonde, the tallest out of all of us, with shoulder-length locks, in a ponytail as well, and hazel eyes. Correction – more green than hazel… I give up, they fluctuate. "Who knows where your lips have been."

"Oh the humanity!" I protested, leaning against Sarah with the back of my hand to my forehead in a damsel-in-distress manner while my comrades laughed. "Jesse, how could you! You're our medic, whatever would happen to me if you were not there to pull me from the darkness with your… kiss of life!" I over exaggerate, but it's funny.

"_Ew_!" Our party's third member, another girl with sleek black hair and purple eyes, contacts, groaned from beside Jesse. "Why'd you wanna kiss Jess?"

And if this was some geeked out anime, there would be my sweat-drop. "Dude, I don't wanna kiss her; I was kidding Tammy."

"Oh… okay!" I swear, I know she's messing with my head, but I can't help but think that it's not an act. My brain…

"Pansy." The last member of the group retorted jokingly as they prodded me in the chest, Carly, a red-head with a high pony-tail. "If you die there I'll never forgive you." She says in mock anger. "I mean it."

"Okay, sure." I laughed as I returned the gesture, ignoring the stares of our parents at the immaturity of our actions. Even though some of us are a little older than eighteen, and some are just at that age, our group's combined age of maturity would be… eleven. Being mature is just too overrated for some of us, ha-ha. "Just as long as I don't get eaten alive by scarabs or some ancient mummy of a cursed, and _bald_, High Priest tries to suck the life-force and bodily fluids out of me-"

"_Nasty_!" Ha, I just love grossing out Sarah, Miss I-hate-all-scary-movies. It's a shame; I always thought that _The Mummy_ was classic AND funny. Zeesh.

"-I'll be all right." I grinned. It may sound selfish, but I like it when they all worry about me. I have experience in loneliness from my early years of my life. I'm over them now because of these people to which I owe the honor of putting up with me for so many years without trying to use me as a replacement for the stuffed sparring dummy that Jesse keeps in her basement closet for us. "Trust me all right?" I reassured again, oozing sticky-sweetness into the syllables. "I mean, seriously, what's the worst that Egypt could do?"

My friends looked at me with expressions that led me to believe that they thought otherwise as well as thinking about some situations that I might likely die in. Not surprising. I might as well be the spokesperson for Murphy's Law… I think there was a movie like that once, oh well. "Just be careful, you never know. Got it?" The red-head repeated.

I nodded, "Yeah, got it. No worries mate." Suddenly, my father announced that our flight had arrived – finally, that's all I can say. We got together for one last group hug before I had to grab my carry-on luggage and make my way to the boarding terminal, but not before quickly turning around to shout "_I'll bring an undead mummy buddy back for you guys_!" before running after my father. Down in the tunnel, I could hear the echo of Carly's voice, either cursing the day I was born or mocking me I bet.

"Interesting friends you have," my dad commented once I was strapped into my seat. Again, I nodded, remembering that he had only met them in person on only one other occasion before this – my high school graduation, when we had to act like _adults_. Ick.

"Yup, it's a nice click." I said as I stared out the window. Twenty or so minutes later and we were down the runway and into the wild blue yonder. There were no clouds so I could see everything, including my house, until we were so high up we could barely see anything at all. If I wasn't getting an adrenaline rush off of being so high, I probably would've noticed the slight twinge in my gut – my warning bells if you will.

It's too bad I didn't though, because if I did, I wouldn't have even set foot on the plane in the first place.

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Kazumi: Wow, only four pages. Definitely not my shortest but still pretty short. Remember, there's going to be the first three chapters put up all at once, so be on the lookout if you so please. Ja ne minna-san!


	2. Can You Dig It?

Kazumi: Second chapter; wow, I'm pumping these out really quickly. Just so you all know, I will be getting right back on the wagon of my other stories right after Christmas, so no worries. Got it? Anywho, DISCLAIMER! - THIS. IS. _YU-GI-OH!!!_ And I own nothing from it, since the subject will finally be approached in this chapter.

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Can You Dig It?

My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton and my head just as groggy by the time our plane landed on a landing strip in the Cairo desert. I remember falling asleep while we were in the middle of crossing the Atlantic; the color difference was astounding. The endless blue that was the last thing I saw was so relaxing compared to the blistering tan that extended for miles outside my window. Right now it looked to be a few hours before the sunset, even though it was sure to be in the afternoon back home.

Time zones never cease to amaze me, or screw me over for that matter. Gods, I was _so_ tired… I am going to sleep the second we hit camp, or before we reach it, I didn't care at this point.

"Jack," I lifted my head. My dad was standing beside my seat with his luggage in his hand. "We're here. You might want to gather your things."

"Sure thing," I yawned and stretched a bit before pulling my backpack out from under my seat and my suitcase from the compartment overhead. Following his out of the cabin, we headed towards the stairs. One thing I could say for private planes, I relished in the peace and quiet that it brought with it. No babies crying loudly, no idiots talking obnoxiously on their cell phones – nothing.

It was so _awesome_.

"So where are we going exactly?" I asked. "Is the dig site close to any cities?"

"No," my father laughed. "It really is in the middle of nowhere; pure luck that we found it really." We reached the top of the stairs and I was surprised to find someone already waiting for us at the bottom in a green jeep; an Egyptian with khaki shorts and a white tee. I held back an Archeologist joke, I knew a good few. "Kayle!" My dad called enthusiastically. He actually bounded down the stairs; I was shocked he didn't fall. Still, I followed him down the rest of the way and set my bags in the sand. "My friend, how have you been?" He said as he clasped the man's hand, shaking it fervently.

"I am well," the man, Kayle, replied with a heavily accented voice, but nonetheless just as happy. "I have been waiting for you Derrick. We've made so much progress already-" My dad stopped him with a hand before motioning in my direction.

"Introductions first." The other man laughed and nodded. "This is my eldest, Jack. Jack, this is Kayle David." I smiled and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Mr. David. Though it's pronounced 'Dah-veed' right? I know of someone with the same last name." I didn't mention who, I watch way too many crime shows to not know though.

"Very good Miss Kavanagh, your father sometimes forgets that," he grinned in return. I chuckled. "I'm pleased to have finally met you. You father speaks of you often." I chuckled a little. My dad always made a point of showing off his kids when we weren't around to stop him. Mr. David released my hand and made a motion towards the jeep behind him, a driver already at the wheel. I couldn't stop myself from grinning. We had our own driver, way too cool. "All right then. Shall we get going? I have much to fill you in on Professor Kavanagh."

"Sure." Picking up our bags, our little group filed into the jeep, our things in the back, and drove off into the desert on a small road.

No matter how desolate the desert looked to most, I found it to be the most interesting thing there. As my father and Mr. David talked, I gazed out the window at the rolling hills; with an astounded look on my face no doubt. I did that a lot back home too whenever I would go on a drive with my friends. I also took note that the air smelled a lot different here – dry, but with a strange scent to it. Anyway, it was nice, very relaxing. Not to mention the fact that the sun that was starting to slowly dip below the horizon was hypnotic as I have never seen it before. It was magic, pure and simple.

_I can show you the woooorrrld…_ Shut up, I loved that movie as a kid.

At this rate I was going to go back to dreamland whether I liked it or not. I gave in after two minutes of trying. Letting out a sigh, I got in a good position with my head on the crook of my arm against the window and my legs pulled up onto the seat before I closed my eyes. The talking of my father and Mr. David lulled me to sleep soon after.

It didn't seem like a long time for someone to shake my arm to wake me. I groaned and rubbed the sleep from the corners of my eyes as I looked around.

And gasped.

It was like a scene right out of the movies, one action flick that I mentioned earlier in fact. There were several tents; some were for work, I could see the tables and objects on them; and the others, no doubt, were for sleeping in. People were _everywhere_; some of them native, and some of them Caucasian like my dad and I. There weren't a lot of them, but being a small dig site made the presence of people even more evident.

The site itself was positioned at the bottom of a valley with rocky outcrops around us with the exception of a break in the wall where I could see the desert beyond it; the only way in or out.

And the sunset… _Hooooooly_ Mary Mother of God, it was incredible. Blues, violets, oranges, pinks, blood reds, magentas – ANY color you could possibly think of surrounded the even more enormous looking sun in the desert sky. I was sure that my mouth was hanging open from being blown stupid by the sunset by now. I gave a tittering sigh as I came out of my trance. Oh yeah, this was magic. You couldn't get this in the city, no question about it.

As I clambered out of the jeep, I grabbed my bags from the back and went to stand with my father as we waited for our guide. "Sleep well?" My dad asked.

"Yeah," I rubbed more sleep away. "I'll be fine in the morning, always have. Jet lag is just kicking my ass right now."

"True." He replied as the Egyptian joined us and walked us over to the dig site. My dad turned back to our guide, "Do you think we could postpone the tour until tomorrow Kayle? We have some sleep to catch up on."

"Of course Professor." I smirked at the title, reminding me of another Archeologist Professor – cough-IndianaJones-cough – as we made our way to what were presumably our tents. I was glad to get my own. I kick violently in my sleep at times and Carly has the bruises to prove it. She doesn't care though; she manages to get back at me for them.

Time for bed, thank GOD. I find out where they have water and washed up and brushed my teeth. Next I changed into my pajamas, a tank top and shorts. Not much but my bed, a thermal blanket and a comfortable sleeping bag and two pillows, make up for my lack of clothing. I'm glad I was prepared when bringing them; it's sort of cold here. Last but not least, I secured my tent. I refuse to have anything creepy crawly, well, crawl under my covers and get me while I'm sleeping. If I'm going to die here, which is always a possibility, then I'm not going to go while I'm sleeping. No way in hell. I checked around my tent, made sure it's in the ground properly, and then went inside and also made damn well sure that there isn't any way in with the exception of the opening that I double zipped; thank you double layer tents.

The blanket felt like heaven as I fell onto my sleeping bag and snuggled into it. I let out a large sigh and melted into the darkness behind my eyelids. I could hear my father talking to other people a ways away from where the tents are and I felt a small pang in my chest about being left out of the conversation. Oh well, I figured I'd ask him about it in the morning.

I was gone within three minutes.

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I woke up gasping and sweating. My hands shook too, dammit. How many more days was this going to go on for? I barely remember the nightmare that did this to me and I knew that it was going to be gone from my memory by breakfast. Something about, I dunno, something really dark and evil.

Egypt had got to me. That meant my friends were, dare I say it, _right_. Curses…

When I was in grade school, Egypt really interested me. The culture drew me in, the mythical aspect especially. Greek and Roman mythology had their perks, but Egyptian legends were my favorite for the longest time. If I was getting nightmares so soon into the trip, I was going to blame it on the land for sure.

I groaned as I stretched my arms above my head and put on some proper clothing before heading outside.

So far, it's been three days since I arrived. I got over the jet lag quick enough. I HATE jet lag by the way, I get sick from it. On the first official day in the land of pyramids, Kayle gave us the formal, and quick, tour of the place. We saw some of the artifacts that they already found, looked at pictures from the dig site, and met the people involved, my father's friends; this included the native helpers.

For some reason, I got a funny feeling that some of the digger guys didn't want to be there. They started to mutter stuff in their language whenever they walked past the hole to the Underground. That's my name for the entrance to the not-so-hidden-anymore tunnel that they're bringing all the ancient swag from. Anyway, they looked like something was going to jump out at them. I'm still waiting for that ghostly wind to do that weird howling thing when all of us are eating dinner; no luck so far. All I know is that they know more than they're letting on. For once, I wish I knew Arabic.

On another note, the stuff that they're finding here is really cool. After the tour, I took to hanging around the tents where they put out the things they found for display. Most of it is pieces of stone that fell off of the walls of the tunnel. Lots and lots of drawing and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; but even if I don't understand it, it's more satisfying than looking at it on TV or in a magazine. The other things are like pieces of metal works like bits and pieces of jewelry and other stuff.

They found a mummified _cat_ down there. I stared at that for so long, it was kind of funny. It was like I was unconsciously waiting for it to come to life or something. Again, I blame television, _Goosebumps _for the cat instance.

After the tour, Kayle took my father and me on a small trip through the desert surrounding the camp. On camels. It was the funniest animal ride I ever went on. I was fine, hell I thought I would do worse riding a camel for the first time. I didn't though because my camel was a nice camel and I was able to mount without any trouble. I named him Jonathan.

I couldn't say that for my dad. In all of my experience, I've known my father to be a great animal person. They LOVE him to death for no particular reason at all. Not this time though. My dad got an asshole for a camel, and showed him first-hand how much of an asshole he was by spitting – _right in my dad's face_.

It smelled so BAD.

I was hysterically laughing while my dad threw up behind a dune. I have the most horrible sense of humor here, I just know it.

Following that incident, and my father getting a new camel, we continued on to an oasis about thirty minutes from where camp was. Which was cool, now I had a place to go when I was bored and in need of some serious quiet. Then we went back and had dinner. That night, I was finally able to get a decent look at the white speckled black oblivion that was the sky since I had missed it the night prior. It was breathtaking. I lay on the cold sand for the longest time just watching the stars twinkle.

It's not until you really get to the middle of nowhere to see how small you really are. It's a humble feeling and I missed getting it while not going on trips to nowhere with my dad.

On the second day, I met a traveling family when I went to the oasis and talked with them a bit. They knew limited English, but it was fun anyways. After that, I took to browsing the relics a LOT. I actually found something there that gave me just the weirdest, not to mention creepiest, sense of déjà vu. I was going amongst the display rows, seeing if there was anything insignificant that I might be able to take home, when I came across this wall piece with the Eye of Horus on it. I sort of paused when I came across it. It honestly _looked_ just like the eye, but it _wasn't_. There was just something off about it that I knew was off about it and couldn't remember what the hell was off about it.

I got a headache at that point and left before I started angrily talking to myself.

One thing that I really liked was hearing stories from the diggers about curses and tales surrounding the area and their own personal experiences. At one point, I got curious and brought up the eye that I saw. Boy, did that ever launch a story. One of the workers told me that my father's people were here looking for artifacts linking to some nameless pharaoh who had to battle a terrible evil. Apparently, the eye was his symbol. He started to tell me about the guy when two of the other workers started getting on his case in Arabic. They all shut up after that.

Did that ever curb my curiosity. NOT.

That night, I had my first nightmare. I was glad I didn't wake up screaming. I bit my lower lip substantially though. It hurt like a bitch.

The two days following and I still wasn't bored yet. I was surprised I wasn't as bothered by the hot, dry weather as I thought I would be. Sometimes I stuck to myself, reading or riding around, but mostly I hung around with this one assistant, Jaleel. He was a few years older than I was, but still someone to pal around with. He was college taught and knows ancient Egyptian. Very cool. He's been teaching me a little bit of ancient Egyptian. I'm not that good yet, but it's nice to know another language.

Those meetings my father attended that I wished to be a part of? Yeah, not at all interesting. I tried sitting through one and it got sluggish quick, so I left. I'm ashamed to say that I thought it would be more like the first part of the first _Jurassic Park_ than anything. Oh well.

I was however itching to go into the tunnel. The wall piece was really starting to grate on my nerves. No one but the workers and their bosses were going into the tunnel so far, and I was eager to get a piece of the action. Yesterday I asked my dad if we could take a tour inside. I almost knocked him over when he said, "yes," and, "let's go inside tomorrow."

Well, yesterday's tomorrow is now today, if that makes any sense. I'm up and raring to go. After I got dressed and grabbed my exploring/survivor's backpack we all met at the entrance. The party included me, my dad, Mr. David, Jaleel who came at my request, five other workers and two other professors whose names I think were Dr. Grey and Dr. Pulice.

Then we descended down into the darkness.

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Kazumi: YAY! Second one done and out of the way. Third one is coming right NOW. No sweat. Please keep watching for the next chapter though! Ja ne minna-san!


	3. Brendan Fraser has NOTHING on Me

Kazumi: Third chapter, ho crap I'm getting too good at this. I really should be ashamed of myself since I should REALLY be doing my college work. Yes, I am in college. The world in going to END. Oh well. Let's get this over with, okay? DISCLAIMER! - _Yu-Gi-Oh! _doesn't at all belong to me. If it did then I would LOSE THE GAME! Ha, got ya! XD

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Brendan Fraser has NOTHING on Me

"Everyone stays close," Mr. Pulice called from the front; he was with his aide. I was near the back with Jaleel, and my father and Kayle in front of me. Behind us were Mr. Grey and his aide. The other three workers were meshed in with the group, but I noticed that none of them were at the rear.

Shows how much faith they have in this place, but they have a good reason. Every hair on the back of my neck is slowly standing on end as we move further and further down into the tunnel. There was definitely _something_ down here.

"Miss Kavanagh," my head jerked up to look at the Archeologist at the front. "How are you doing back there?"

"I'm fine, I actually like places like this." I replied.

"You mean pitch-black and dangerous?"

"No sir; dark and enclosed. I'm the opposite of a claustrophobic, and you can call me Jack. Miss Kavanagh is way too formal for my tastes."

The man laughed heartily, "Very well, only if you call me Laurence." From the light of the torch he was holding, I saw him point backwards. "That stick in the mud behind you is named John. Can you believe it? _John_. How Plain Jane is that? Might as well call him John Doe."

"This is coming from the man who runs his mouth like a bloody racehorse." A light but stern voice said from behind me. "Stop before you have a bad influence on the girl." I laughed at the banter.

The two seemed to bicker constantly, and contrasted just as much. Mr. Pulice was a middle-sized, chubby man with a bald spot while Mr. Grey was a middle-aged, tall Englishman that could be mistaken for a secret agent if he wasn't wearing the classic khaki get-up. They mocked each other, but it was in good fun. I could see that they were the kind of friends that my friends were with me.

An image of a talking candelabra and clock popped into my head and I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing.

"I believe Jack can take care of herself." Jaleel interrupted the tennis match of a conversation. The professors went back to do their own thing, I swear Mr. Pulice was pouting, as the Egyptian smiled at me in the dim. "We'll be there soon. Are you excited?" He asked softly.

"Oh yeah, I'm excited all right." I whispered back. It felt like speaking loudly wasn't allowed in this place. "You have no idea how much I want to figure this out."

"You mean about the eye?" For a split second, the air grew tense. I shivered.

"That's right. I just… it's too familiar. I don't like coincidences; that's all."

"Too true." We continued down into the darkness, hitting stone stairs after a little while. As the group traveled, Mr. Grey told me about the site at my request. Truthfully, I hadn't paid any attention to it before; don't know why, I just didn't.

"We uncovered the site about three months ago. A group of desert people were camped out in the valley above us and the ground caved in under a few of their tents." I winced and he waved it off. "It was just ten feet, no one was hurt badly. After our men heard about it they came out to investigate and found an already caved in system."

He said it so enthusiastically that I couldn't resist asking, "So what's the big deal? Ancient passageways don't last forever; they're pretty much bound to cave-in at some point."

"Ah, but the cave-in was recent. Possibly at some point early last year. That's not the most interesting thing though." He said.

"Oh?" Hey, look, it rhymed.

"Indeed. In our investigation, we discovered that there was no reason at the time for a cave-in. No earthquake, no rock slides, nothing. It was as if the ground purposefully swallowed the whole system."

I couldn't help but stare. This was getting creepy and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a mummy jumped out of the ground at this point.

It took _forever_ to get to the underground site, or felt like it. When we finally got there, I was awestruck. The tunnel widened out into a much larger, lit, passageway with large stone walls on either side, and they were COVERED in paintings and hieroglyphs. The floor was also covered, but in a two inch layer of sand; suppose nobody's perfect.

A shuddering breath left my chest and Jaleel snickered at me. I smacked him the arm in return. "You think you're funny, don't you?"

"Not at all." He replied in mock indignity. "Why would you ever say such a thing?"

"Because you're too British to not be mocked." Yes, he speaks with an accent when he's not talking in Egyptian or Arabic. It's the oddest thing. An Arab who went to college in the U.K. and somehow got a British accent over his original accent he had from the years he spent in freakin' Saudi. "Weirdo."

"My lady," he bowed. Silly twit.

"Jack," my dad called from his professor posse. "Come over here for a moment will you?" Jaleel and I walked over to the group who stood at the base of a particularly detailed wall, albeit missing a lot of it to the cave in. What was still there looked to be in great condition however and I could actually read some of it thanks to my Arab friend. "This wall is one of our current projects." He said motioning behind him. "We found it to be a story about one of the past pharaohs, but since most of it is missing we can't accurately translate the writings." Ah, it's that pharaoh again, the one that all of the diggers are scared of. Or maybe it was just this place.

I walked down the length of the wall, scanning it for the word 'Pharaoh.' I knew the hieroglyphs for that word from Jaleel. I also knew a few of the basic words, times of the day, questions, names of the Gods and Goddesses, and some swear words; not like I was going to tell my father that.

I turned the corner, taking out my flashlight in the process. "I'm going to go check over here dad, be back in a bit!" I called over my shoulder. His reminder about the emergency satellite phone in my backpack echoed back over the stone and I continued onward.

I feel like Indiana Jones… still waiting for that mummy thing.

The other side of the wall my father and his college's were looking at wasn't all that different, but I wanted to find something – _anything_ – that would solve the mystery of the eye. I walked for about five minutes in that _maze_. God, it was unbelieveable at how twisty it was. I had a fun time looking at the stories, they were… interesting. Not to mention familiar.

Like the eye. Now I was getting annoyed.

Suddenly I came across a dead end and stopped. In front of me was a picture, but one that quickly caught my attention without much effort. It was a partially degraded depiction of that eye, overseeing all of Egypt. Under the eye was a man dressed in a tunic garb… and the weirdest, most colorful looking head-dress I've ever seen. The famous Pharaoh no doubt.

Rather big brother-ish really. Seriously though, I don't think those color dyes even _existed _back then.

Reaching out, I touched the golden laid Eye of Horus mock-up delicately. It felt cool, and familiar to the touch. God, this was going to drive me insane. Like bouncing-off-the-walls-in-a-padded-room sort of insane.

"You know, I really hate you." I muttered, half to the wall and half to myself for not being able to figure out this damn puzzle.

I stopped at that point, fingers frozen on the painting. It was like something had clicked. I stared at the picture again, just to make sure my eyes hadn't been fooling me.

It couldn't be that… could it? My fingers continued to run over the picture as I stepped closer in utter disbelief. If I wasn't in the middle of nowhere, I'd go and have my eyes checked and my head examined. This just wasn't possible.

I stepped backwards and barely heard a soft click underneath my shoe; from sand no doubt. I yanked out the satellite phone, telling my dad that I might've found something. He told me to stay put and as I put the phone away in my bag, I stepped forward once more to further inspect the wall and heard another click.

There was a sudden rumbling, and my world fell down.

* * *

I woke up in darkness. Everything hurt, and I mean _everything_. A warm liquid I was sure was blood trickled down my face in a slow stream; and from the sharp stinging sensations in my arms, legs, and torso I was sure that I was cut up there too. My head was woozy, possibly a concussion. When I tried moving my limbs, they all worked save for my left arm. I threw up my breakfast to the side of me at the pain; it was dislocated at the shoulder.

I started to panic upon not knowing where I was. All that I knew was that I was laying face down on some rough rocks. When I went to get up however-

"OW! Jesus…" I discovered that there was very little space to get up in, so I settled back down in my position; sprawled out on the rocky floor. After a few minutes of trying to recall what had happened through the fog my thoughts were encased in, my eyes widened.

A cave in. Even more so, a cave in that I inadvertently caused.

"I had to get stuck a cave in, didn't I?" I moaned softly. God, I sounded pitiful. "Stupid booby traps… … I hope dad and the others got out safe…" Minutes passed as I continued to stare at the rocks in front of me when suddenly I heard a static hiss from a little ways to my left. I frantically twisted over a few rocks and then very carefully moved others out of the way when I hit a pocket of fresh air and my backpack. With my satellite phone inside.

I started to cry, hope wasn't lost yet.

Sniffling, I reached inside the beyond tattered knapsack. There were a few big holes that had lost my emergency rations, water, and a few other knick-knacks that probably would've helped in this situation; like bandages for instance. I was going to have to do without a flashlight too since I remember I had it in my hand when I fell.

I put my head near the hole with flowing air and talked into the phone, my voice hoarse. "Dad?"

_"__JACK! Oh god, where are you?! Are you all right?!"_

"I'm alive… I think I have a concussion, I'm pretty cut up but the only serious ones are on my head and two on my side, and my left shoulder is dislocated. I have an air hole though, so that's good…" I shifted. I was laying on something fairly sharp and it was digging into my chest uncomfortably, but there was no way I could move without moving anything else. I seriously didn't need anything else in my tiny space moving. "Are you all okay?"

_"__We were able to get into an observatory cavern. They were designed to stand up to cave ins."_

"That's good…" I started getting teary again. I had to ask, there was no way to beat around the bush at this point. "Dad… am I going to die?" There seemed to be a pause on the line before my father came back on with determination in his voice.

_"__No you're not. The satellite phone has a GPS that is giving us a lock on your position. We already have the teams coming to get you. You're not going to die, I swear you won't."_

I rubbed my face with my useful wrist to get the tears and blood out of my eyes. "How far am I away from you, dad? I fell down a shaft… how far?"

Another pause._"Fifty feet."_ I felt instantly sick. _"We're on our way baby, just hold on. Do not give up, do you hear me?"_

"L-loud and clear." I choked. I paused on my end before responding again. "Dad, I just wanted to let you know… it's my fault. I-I set off a booby trap, I'm so sorry…"

_"__It's all right sweetheart, you didn't know."_

"I know. I just wanted to say it… and that I love you so much."

_"_… _I know. I love you too, with all my heart."_

"I'll see you when you get here old man." I turned the phone off at that point to save batteries and laid my head on the cool stone below me.

I couldn't cry again, I wouldn't allow it. If I did, I would get dehydrated and I had no water to replenish myself. I let myself calm down for what I thought to be a good ten minutes before going to work on fixing my wounds.

With my good hand, my teeth, and my shoe and sockless feet, I tore apart my baggy shirt for bandages. There was no modesty at this point and I was wearing a sports bra so I didn't care. It took me forever to make bandages in such a small place, but I thanked whoever was watching over me for my monkey feet. They were like a second set of extremely clumsy hands to me.

When the bandages were as best as I could set them, I laid down again, not wanting to touch my dislocated shoulder. I knew from example what had to be done to fix it, but I was in no position to properly bang it back into place with an unstable environment. I was just going to have to wait for help to arrive.

So I waited.

That gets us up until this point where I start to get bored.

That's right, bored. I am now bored and not at all worried for my safety. I'm going so insane it's funny. I just know I'm going to need therapy after this.

I imagine a lot of scenarios too, but not about my current situation; call it daydreaming. At one point I do have to flick myself in the nose to keep myself awake since it would be very bad to fall asleep. I have no way to tell how long I've been down here and I don't want to waste the battery to call and check on their progress.

What I do want to know is what this thing is that has been under my chest digging into my goddamn solar plexus because I can't take it anymore. I'll be damned if something's jabbing me in the boobs while I'm slowly waiting to suffocate or be crushed by boulders the size of sofa chairs. That would be the stupidest way to die, right next to death by drapery.

I reach under my body with a grunt and attempt to pull out the offending object, but it wouldn't come out. It must be stuck between some rocks or something.

"Damn you…" Using my knees as leverage, I pull harder. Whatever it was, it was metal. An artifact? Funny, I didn't notice anything before. I couldn't see what it looked like in the pitch black, but it feels like I'm yanking on some sort of diamond. "Come out here you stupid thing." I growl, pulling harder. "Dammit, come here!"

I knew I was taking out my anger of my situation out on the metal-thing, but it didn't matter to me. I was really, really angry… and no one was here to see it. All the better.

While I pull on the diamond, I feel a stinging sensation form on my hand; shortly after, a wet feeling joins it as well. Ah bugger, I'm bleeding. "DAMMIT!" I collapse cursing, my hand stays under me as I dry sob onto the rocky surface. I felt empty and helpless… it sucks. "Why?" My voice came out in a raspy whisper. "Oh God, _why_?" If I made it out of this, I was going to lock myself in my room for a good two months and then _never_ doubt my friends _again_.

Suddenly, it was as if I sank into a tub of ice cold water. My breath left my chest in a whoosh, leaving me gasping and speechless. It felt like something was squeezing the life out of me. The stabbing sensation in my chest came back with a vengeance and if I wasn't able to breathe I'd probably be screaming in pain.

There was an abrupt bright glint in the darkness that caught my attention then for some reason it became even darker than before; if that makes any at all sense. That's because it doesn't! None of it makes any logical sense! This has to be the effects of an internal cranial bleed because even I can't make this shit up.

Then it came at me, like a tidal wave of black.

It was terrifying, but like a bad train wreck I couldn't look away from the wave of literal oblivion rushing at me. A roaring in my ears grew louder and louder until it couldn't even think. That's when I black out, with the last thing I remember is virtually falling into the perpetuating void.

* * *

My head spins as I crack my eyes open and my mouth feels very dry. It's lighter now, interesting, and it smells fresher too – holy crap _where am I_?!

I sit up in haste when my body turns traitor, lancing a horrendous pain through every nerve I have, or had. Naturally, I scream bloody murder and the next thing I know something's rushing at me-

"_Jack_!"

"Huh?" Wow, did that ever sound smart. Wait a second… "D… dad?" My eyes must have been dinner plates as I realize it's him and that I'm out of my underground coffin. Screw the pain, I'm _alive_! "DAD!" I jump him and gasp.

_Ohmygod_ it hurts. It hurts but I have this ear-splitting grin on my face. By this point I am also bawling my eyes out.

Look at that, my left arm works again, awesome! Still hurts like a bitch though, like everything else.

We're hugging and saying "I love you" and crying; I'm so happy I can't even begin to describe it. I hear the tent flap again, like when my father came in, and see everyone from the exploring party poke their heads in.

I wave, "What up?" Ow. Meant to do that. Totally meant to do that.

"We heard you from the main area," Jaleel chuckled a little. "Welcome back to the land of the conscious."

"Good to be back, as clichéd as that sounds." I say with a wince. That pain is getting to me… stupid pain. My dad tells me to lie back down, more like orders me, but I relish in the fact that I'm laying on a bed, not a boulder, and proceed with gratitude. Thankfully, I get some painkillers along with that. Ooooh, painkillers… "So, what happened and why am I not in a hospital? I'm pretty sure I blacked out from my concussion."

Yes, because I would like to know why I'm not getting _profession care_ after being buried alive and in _critical condition_.

Kayle nods, "That is what it looked like. When we found you, you were in a very bad state. However, we were able to stabilize you once we got to camp. We did not want to risk putting you in a moving vehicle if you were doing well." He kneels down and places a hand on my head where my bruise wasn't. "Allah was smiling upon you, Jack. You recovered so quickly from your wounds when we though the trip was for naught."

I'm not even Muslim and that made me feel so damn good. God, Allah – who gives a crap? I'm not one for religion but if I'm in the guy's good favor, then all to him for it.

"Remind me to give the guy an I.O.U." I smirk. Everyone laughs for a bit before my father shoos them out of my tent. He tells me again to go to sleep, but I stop him as he's going out of the tent. "Dad, was it really that bad?"

He turns around with a defeated sigh, like he's remembering something unpleasant. "We thought you hadn't made it when we first found you. You were bleeding a lot and we thought that you'd succumbed to your head wound. When we got you topside, we couldn't get a hold of anyone to help and didn't think you'd make it at one point. We did everything we could do though, like bandage your cuts and fix your arm." He ran a hand through his hair as I shudder. "Then the next morning you were stable. We have no idea how, but you were. The swelling on your head had gone down considerably too. But… you were asleep for so long, truthfully I didn't think you'd wake up."

I ran my hands along my arms at the unsettling story, I got goose bumps. "So I was in a coma?" I ask.

"Yes." He says. "A deep one. Nothing we did would wake you up."

"For how long?"

"Seven days." It couldn't be _that_ long. There's NO WAY it could have been that long…

I know usually the stereotype would be feeling like you've slept forever, but that wasn't true. It felt like a really short time, like I just fell asleep. Am I missing something here? It feels like I'm missing something… "… Wow, seriously?" He nods and I lie back down with a sigh, fingering the bandages on my chest. "So, let me guess, more sleep?"

My dad took on an authoritative look and pointed at me, "That's right, more sleep. Night."

"G'night." I rub my eyes with the back of my hand and settle back into the blankets. Ohh… blessed blankets…

…

…

…

Oh God _dammit_. I can't sleep.

"Daaamn." I breathe out. I hate it when this happens. I sleep too long, like on the weekends when I just want to curl up in by big, fuzzy blanket and stay there until three in the afternoon, and then I can't go to sleep later. Stupid internal sleep clock.

I get up, put on some proper clothing, and proceed to sneak out of the tent. I slip pass the other tents, being barefoot in sand has its perks, and out of camp.

I am ninja, hear me roar.

"Yeah, a ninja who sets off booby traps. Utter fail." I mutter to myself scolding. I head out to a dune that overlooks the desert entrance to the camp that if I hide on the western side of it, no one would be able to see me and settle down.

First thought on tonight's agenda: I'm glad for painkillers. Probably wouldn't have made it out this far without them. Thanks dad.

Second: it would be a smart idea to try and sort out my memories since it's OBVIOUS I'm missing some. I can't _believe _I got a concussion! Maan, there go the rest of my brain cells… I kinda needed those.

All right, I remember everything up until the pain in my chest. I went down in the Underground with dad and co. until I got to the chamber. I left to explore. I found picture-

I smack myself in the forehead and the echo bounces off of the surrounding hills at the force. _How did I forget about the damn picture?!_ The whole reason for the cave in was because the damn picture.

A picture of an anime character from a show I haven't watched since middle school; I think I stopped when that Orikalkos season came on. I DO remember going back to watch some of the final season later when I heard from a friend that it was the end of the series.

I never miss endings; it's bad karma and it irritates me to not know the endings of books and television shows.

I can't believe it, I don't think I will. It's too weird for words and no one would believe me anyway. The evidence is at the bottom of the shaft and in pieces.

"Ooooh, the suspense of the find," I say to the wind in a spooky voice. "Never to be seen, never to be heard. The secret will stay with me, _forever_. The movie references just keep coming." I look up at the millions of lights above me against the darkness and abruptly remember something else.

The darkness that engulfed me – practically downed me. I shivered at the feeling; it wasn't something I'd like to repeat anytime soon.

"Anything from that site is probably tainted by the _Shadow Realm_." I snicker mockingly, and then freeze in sudden realization.

And at the feeling of familiar cold starting up in my chest.

"Oh fuck… that isn't at ALL funny. Please no. Please, please no." I beg to no one. I jump up, as well as a cripple can, and look around me in panic; but I see nothing. Memories from the fall fly through my thoughts at a rate I didn't even think possible.

A pain in my chest.

I was being stabbed.

Something metal.

A diamond shape

Blood.

Cold.

Dark.

_Eeendleess…_

I pull up my shirt to see a plethora of bandages covering my torso and belly and once again there's no need for modesty. I practically tear the ones on my chest off; if I bleed I'll put some more on. Freak out now, fix later dammit.

The minute the ones over my breasts are gone my mouth turns as dry as the desert I stand in and I shakily put my hands to my skin.

Five pinpricks, all evenly spaced from each other in a circular formation, stand out in the moonlight. I almost jump for joy at the thought of me loosing that which made the marks when I was brought out of my hole, and then I recalled that it _never _leaves its host. That it hides within them.

_Host_.

Oh God…

"Dead… dead, dead, dead," I repeat in shock. "Dead and _destroyed_. Not fucking possible." My knees go weak as the numbing cold feeling slowly spreads to my limbs and I fall butt-first onto the sand. I curl into a fetal position, murmuring a mantra of, "No," over and over as my fears are well realized.

If it was any other situation, I'd probably be laughing my ass off. Not this time.

"No! This – isn't – happening!" I clench my fists into my hair so hard I think I may just scalp myself. The cold is just about surrounding me now, and then it disappears as quickly as it formed.

That doesn't mean that it left me, however.

I feel _something_ in front of me, but I don't need to look. Nor do I have any inclination to want to. It would just make me feel worse. I bury my head deeper into my arms and knees as much as I can.

Notgonnalooknotgonnalooknotgonnalooknotgonnalook.

"_It is happening. Now then, tell me where and how you came across that information, girl, and we just might be able to get along _swimmingly_._"

DAMN!

* * *

Kazumi: Oh yeah, three chapters up and ready for viewing. Way cool. So, anyone get where the reference at the first page break was to? Aww, yeah! I finally saw it! BEST. 80'S MOVIE. EVER! In any case, I hope you like it; think of it as an early Christmas present from moi …Now I gotta get PotO off the brain too, curses… So until next time, ja ne minna-san!


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